Lesson No. 1

September 11, 1987

FIFTY YEARS ago I played with toy guns -- cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians and war games. Kids are doing it now, and I imagine will be doing it 50 years from now. Our guns weren't too authentic, we had cap pistols, wooden guns, homemade ''guns'' that ''shot'' rubber bands. When there was nothing else, we pointed our fingers and said, ''Bang! You're dead.''

In a recent Sentinel article headlined ''If looks could kill,'' the folly of too much realism in ''toy'' guns was pointed out as a real danger. Also listed were a lot of concerns by manufacturers, parents and law enforcement officers.

What I find woefully lacking is the paramount lesson that all children must learn about guns before they are old enough to get their hands on a real one. That rule is: Never point any gun at anything or anyone unless you are planning to shoot that thing or person.

If children do not get that message into their heads somewhere along the line, the transition to real guns surely will be tragic and disastrous.